Unknown Forces
by iroc2much2
Summary: There are always two sides to an apple: the good and the bad. But what sides do these forces fall under?
1. Fear

**Disclamer: I own only 0.00% of this work; all credit goes to the Charmed producers (the sheer sadness).**

**A/N:** **Bold!=** Extreme emotions (screaming, yelling, crying hysterically, and so on).

**A/N:** The romance will come later on just know that the issues need to be underlined first. Also I'm hoping that this one will be a whole lot more successful than Genesis. Please tell me what I need to do to make this better. Thank you!

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><p>Chapter 1: Fear<p>

She couldn't sleep, she couldn't eat knowing that somewhere out there the Seer waited wanting from her what she couldn't give. No! What she wouldn't give. Phoebe cried for what she lost, she remembered it all too well. His chiseled face when it was left unshaven, his dark midnight clipped hair waiting to be combed through by her hands. The eyes that saw through everything she ever was or is. The voice he used whenever they had make-up sex; they fought a lot, but never did she think he would be gone forever.

**Flashback**

_Phoebe's back is from the audience as she sits down in the dim dining room writing a letter to Cole. In that letter she explains her concern about the Seer to him, and how he couldn't trust her, which is why she is leaving for awhile. _

"_Phoebe… we have to talk." Cole demands as he flames into the penthouse. Cole notices that Phoebe is acting quite nervous like she's hiding something, "What's the matter?" _

_Phoebe sighs deeply and turns in the direction of Cole, "Did you know about the Seer's tonic? What it really does?"_

_Cole looks over Phoebe and notices the letter, "What is this? Are you planning to leave me?" _

"_**Did you know about the tonic**__?" Phoebe scoffs, "So you knew that she was poisoning me with evil?" _

"_You took my hand, and walked me down the aisle long before you had anything to drink. So if you want to pretend that you're being poisoned…"_

"_So why even __**bother**__ with the tonic? __**Why not let me think for myself**__?__**!**__" _

"_Because __**I**__ know what it feels like with having good and evil ripping the insides of you up. __**I just wanted to save that pain**__!"_

"_**You should have trusted me**__! To stand by you all on my own."_

**End Flashback**

Normal POV

If she knew what could've happened next she would have turned back time to save him.

End POV

**Flashback **

_Phoebe is in the bathroom crying up a storm. And Piper beckons, "Get out here Phoebe! And help us!" _

_But she couldn't… kill the one she loves._

_Chanting occurs in the background: _

_**Prudence, Penelope, **_

_**Patricia, Melinda**_

_**Haliwheel witches stand strong beside us, **_

_**Vanish this evil from time and space!**_

_**Ahhhhhhhhh!**__ And the being was no more. _

**End Second Flashback**


	2. Anger Takes Her

**Chapter 2: Anger Takes Her**

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><p><strong>In the Manor<strong>

"Do you think she's okay?" Paige requested curiously from the base of the stairs. She walks up the first four stairs and swerves her head back waiting to be answered.

"**What do you think?"** Piper replies back highly annoyed that Paige, her own sister can even ask that question. Now most people will wonder why she's more snappy than usual, but after everything that has happened she couldn't stand being around Paige anymore. _Everywhere she goes her stuck up attitude is sure to follow_.

"Look Piper! All I did what ask **a question!**" Paige swings her body in a 360 motion to face Piper in annoyance.

"Don't you dare **scream** at me Paige!"

"Don't scream at you Piper? You're screaming at me!"

"Well… we all know this is your fault!"

"My fault! **THIS IS MY FAULT?**" Paige throws her hands in the air, "Exactly how is **ANY** of this my fault?"

Piper glares up at Paige who is now residing on the last step of the stairs, "It's your fault because you pushed Phoebe into the **Seer's open arms**. It's your fault that **Cole** is dead! It's your fault we had to kill him! It your fault that **her son **died! It's your fault that Phoebe is holed up in her room as we speak! It's your fault that she's become an empty shell of herself!" Tears being to fall from Piper's eyes and water drips from her nose, yet she doesn't seem to care. "IT'S YOUR FAULT THAT **I LOST MY SISTER!"**

_Aren't I your sister?_ Paige clenches the railing tightly losing the blood circulation in her right hand. "It's nice to know that everyone in this **STUPID** house HATES ME!"

"I didn't say that, you did." Piper mutters to herself, yet Paige is still able to hear it.

Paige doesn't say anything more but she chokes back a sob, and stomps off towards the peaceful scenery outside.

Bright blue-purplish dots of lights descend from the heavens into the manor, because he felt a strong pull from his life mate. And in minutes Leo stands by Piper waiting for her to say something to indicate what is wrong. Few minutes pass by, so he decides to make the first move; he gently brushes the tears from her eyes with his thumb. "What's wrong?.…" Leo asks whispering softly.

"Paige is what is wrong." Piper gasps for more air, "She keeps doing things that doesn't benefit anyone but herself. She does things that I don't even understand anymore… I feel like I didn't lose one sister but two."

Leo puts his left hand on Piper's back gently massaging the tension away, "So why didn't you tell Paige that?"

"What do you mean?"

Leo sighs deeply and removes his hand from her back clearly pained about what he is going to say, "I didn't come here only for you Piper, but for everyone else too. Paige is crying her heart out on the patio because she believes everything that has happened these past few weeks is her fault alone. Phoebe is slowly wasting away because of these events and you're just plain angry."

"But…"

"No, Piper…"

"Let me…"

"Piper!" Leo states as calmly as he can.

"LET ME TALK!..." Piper shouts on top of her lungs.

"**Don't…"**

"But you don't know what I am going to say, so why do keeping cutting me off?"

"Like I said before you're angry and I don't want you to do something you will regret."

"**Something I regret, right**?" and to this day Piper promises that she saw nothing but red as she raises her right hand up geared for battle.

Leo backs up from her slowly trying to get unwanted attention from him; his hands are raised mid-high to indicate that he is no threat. He looks at her in the eyes and quickly orbs to get away, yet with one flick of Piper's wrist Leo explodes.

"Something I regret, huh?" And with this Piper clings to the last step of the stairs, crying as blue sparkles fall from the sky.

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><p><strong>Out On the Patio <strong>

As usual the sun is shining brightly waving hi to the residents of earth; yet there on a particular patio, a woman ponders about events of the past. Her red hair matches her fierce temper. She gets up, sits down and growls at everything that moves, for instance a blue bird almost dies of fright thinking she is a bear on a rampage for honey.

**Paige's POV**

_He deserved to die; he was the Source of __**ALL**__ Evil! Phoebe should be thanking me that I saved her more pain than she is going through now. So what she lost her son and husband? At least the world is safe from an apocalypse that was bound to happen. Why does everyone think I don't care? If I didn't I wouldn't have said anything to Phoebe, there was no ulterior motive behind it. No I didn't want Cole to myself. And no I didn't want them to break up because I felt like the fifth wheel. Okay! Okay! Maybe I did want them apart a little too much, but that doesn't mean that everything that happened is my fault. _

Paige sighs and gently whispers, "I wish they would understand why I did what I did. If he had lived would Phoebe cry for us?"

_And what scares me about that question is I sincerely doubt that she would. I saw the way both of them worked: Cole was the prince charming and Phoebe, the damsel-in-distress. Phoebe was being saved from being a burdened Charmed One, breaking free through love. But what she refused to see was that Cole was damning her, she was this close to becoming The Queen Of __**ALL**__ Evil. Actually scratch that she was the queen whom tried to play both sides, and in the end she is the one that received the most damages. For that has her sister… __**I pity her.**_

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><p><strong>Back In The Manor<strong>

Piper clings to the stairs as if her life depends on it. She rapidly falls into a stupor and begins mumbling to herself.

**Piper's POV**

_When Prue died I cried myself to sleep every day until I had no more tears to shed. Demons there, demons here, and demons everywhere I killed them so Prue could be avenged. So naturally when Paige replaced Prue's position I felt lost. I, as the oldest then and now didn't know how to handle being placed with such great responsibility like taking care of a sister that I didn't even know existed. Honestly without Phoebe I would've left Paige to defend herself, so how do I repay Phoebe back? By condemning her son and husband to the death, and yes Cole was evil. Yet I find myself thinking that if we could have gave him a chance I know in my heart Cole would've triumphed over the Source. _

Piper asks a question that is silently echoed through the manor, "The Source was a being that couldn't be killed without the Power of Three. **So how did Paige and I kill Cole without Phoebe**?"


	3. The Others

_**Chapter 3- The Others**_

_****_A/N: Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while, but life doesn't stop for anyone. Especially in the school department, regardless I'm back now. So I will be updating the rest of my stories. Also someone commented on the vanquishing spell used, and how it might have be altered. I know the original spell, but there is a reason for this.

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><p><em><strong>Shouldn't we tell them how they did it?<strong>_ A ghastly echo whispered throughout the attic, _**shouldn't we tell them how the Source fell?**_

"Not yet my Dear, doing so would cause all my planning to go to waste… Besides you are not powerful yet, but soon you will be." Penny Halliwell whispers back not willing to wake up the residents in the Manor, even though as a spirit she cannot. She opens the Book of Shadows, memorizes a spell and leaves peaceful like the essence she is.

_**Soon…**_ The other looks at the attic door desperately, before disappearing into nothingness.

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><p><strong>Down Below In The Underworld<strong>

How could this have happened? You were supposed to be watching him, Julie? NOW COLE IS GONE, PHOEBE BETRAYED US, AND THEIR SON DIED! How could you screw everything up in a minute?

"I'm sorry your excellence. I played the part the Seer asked me to, so naturally it isn't my fault but hers."

"So… Julie, you want to play the blaming game? Well you can if you want, but remember that in the palm of my hands is the key to your pitiful existence here on this plane. Perhaps I should let it go, and let you wallow in the demonic wasteland? _**Besides the Seer as something coming to her soon.**_"

Julie shudders to think what** HER **excellence as planned for the wise one. She looks at the dark swirling mass in the palm of **HER** hands… her soul. She couldn't move on and in all honesty she didn't want to. But the toll that this plane is having on her spiritual being is too much to bear. _So why couldn't she just leave?_ Simple if she tried **SHE** would squeeze her soul so hard it would manifest into physical pain for her. She remembered a time, she attempted to escape and the pain was so much: her intestines gushed from her mouth, blood dripped from her eyes. When **SHE** stopped squeezing her soul, everything stopped like it never even occurred to begin with. Julie doesn't know what **SHE** has planned, rather she doesn't care instead she waits patiently for her sentence to end. That's what Julie gets for messing with the likes of a demonic woman, Cole's mother to be exact… Vixen. **SHE** is a bitch not to be trifled with.

And for this Julie despised what she had become… an other. A person stuck in the in-between: not able to move on. A being with a body and at the same time not: pain, anger, worry still existed. But love and happiness vanished, others only know of anguish. A spirit used only for manipulation of other people's plans. She had become a pawn, and she hated it.

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><p><strong>In the Attic of the Manor<strong>

"Grams!" Piper yelled at the top of her lungs.

Grams questions from behind Piper, "Yes my dear?"

Piper looks at her grandmother, Penny Halliwheel wearily. Everything that occurred physically and emotionally drained her. It took a miracle for Leo to get her to eat let alone cook. And now only one thing remained stuck in her mind,_ how did we do it?_ Piper had asked everyone she knew Leo, the elders, and the rest of the magic world. She had even looked into the Book of Shadows and nothing could tell her how. Grams was her last hope, she had to know if Cole could have been saved. She needed it; she had to get past the guilt every time she saw Phoebe. Past the anger every time Paige breathed a word. Grams has to fix this, she has to make everything better.

"What's wrong Piper?" Grams asked has she quickly takes a strand of hair from Piper.

_Ouch! Did someone just yank my hair?_ Piper rapidly looks around for the culprit to find that Grams hasn't moved a muscle from behind the book's podium. _Piper you are imagining things, FOCUS!_ "Everything… I don't know what to do anymore. And the funny thing is I'm not really worried about our situation right now. How so unconnected we are as sisters."

"So, what's really got you down?"

"How… Grams, how?"

"How, what?" Penny understood what she was hinting at, but she prayed she wouldn't go there. Yet knowing Piper, she would.

"The Book of Shadows says to vanquish the Source we need the Power of Three, but we only have two. Phoebe couldn't vanquish someone she loved, _and at the same time she did nothing to save him._ How, did Paige and I accomplished such a feat?"

Penny will always love her grandchildren, but right now Piper wasn't her favorite. In fact, she felt she could trust Paige more. Paige didn't doubt this wonderful news of the Source and his spawn being ripped from Phoebe's arms. Yes these events caused the rift Piper mentioned, but that is a better price to pay than the world ending. What she had to was lie, but for a good cause lying could be justified. "I'm sorry Piper; I'm just as stumped as you are maybe a miracle occurred. _One day Piper you will forgive me._

Piper swallows hard, and keeps it together until she hits her bedroom. She lies on her bed, staring hard at the ceiling willing it to end her life. Maybe then everything would be okay. She couldn't fix this, therefore what good is she? _Grams said it was a miracle and that I shouldn't ponder on it, but why do I get the feeling that I should._ _Grams would never lie to me, right?_

_**Stop doubting yourself, Piper.**_ The other said gently, even though Piper couldn't hear her. _**Sleep Piper, sleep. **_

Piper does the unthinkable and goes to sleep lulled by a gentle voice.


	4. Souls Amiss

**Chapter 4- Souls Amiss**

A/N: None as of yet.

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><p><strong>Down In The Underworld <strong>

"Julie, what's wrong?" A handsome demon ran towards her.

"Maxell! What are you doing here?" She cared for him a lot, so if she was alive she would gladly shag him. But she can't… and the taste of worry began to rise. _He shouldn't be here; I shouldn't be here with him. How do I tell him that because he can see me, doesn't mean I'm alive?_ "You need to get away from this place, she might see you. Come on, Maxell be smarter than what you are."

"What are you talking about, Julie?" He looks around the damp, empty, and cold throne room that once inhabited one of the most powerful Source ever to live. Unfortunately, he died by the hands of the Charmed Ones. Typically, this is why he kept a low profile, and never tried to play around with those of higher power. Forget about achieving to become a powerful demon, all he wanted was to live another day. Yet in this game between good and evil someone always seemed to get hurt in the long run, and it tended to be a demon _even though the Charmed Ones are at their weakest now._

"Leave… please?" She has this foreboding sense that something bad is going to happen.

"Julie?..." Maxell mutters.

"_**Well, well, well… look at what we have here?" **_ Vixen said as she saunters into the throne room that was once her son's. _How dare they defile this room with their presence?_ Only she is allowed access, which means Julie has something up her sleeves. _**"Tell me Julie, how DID you get in here?"**_ Gently brushing dust of the seat of throne, and she doesn't seat down there because the throne isn't hers to sit on. Instead she chooses a comfier option, standing up.

"Your excellence… we were just leaving." Julie hoped she would excuse them, and if not both of them at least him.

"You didn't ANSWER my question!" Vixen's eyes glazed red.

"Excuse me for interpreting, but Julie had nothing to do with getting into this place." Maxell said trying to abate the tension.

The air shifted, and the scent of untapped power wafted towards her direction. Vixen's red eyes turned eagerly to her new prey. "Maxell, that's your name? Tell me how you came here?" Vixen said oh too sweetly.

"No! Maxell, don-" Before Julie could finish her warning, she was silenced by the wave of her excellence right hand. And as hard as she tried, she couldn't talk let alone move.

Maxell looks at Julie in confusion_, what is she talking about? Obviously this hot woman just wants to know how I got in here._ "Simple, I have the ability to teleport anywhere even to places I have never been."

"Like to the demonic wasteland?" Vixen asked gleefully.

"Yes I suppose, but I don't know why anyone would."

Vixen closes the distance between the two of them; she strokes Maxell's face in fascination. "You really are a beautiful, and you have a beautiful soul." Vixen licks her lips hungrily.

"Um… Thank you I believe." Maxell gently than roughly tries to push Vixen off his person, but her grip on his arm and face is too strong. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Actually there is, you have something I need." Vixen stated calmly.

"What exactly is it?"

_**Your soul…**_ And at this Vixen's grip relaxes, she thrusts her right hand back only to throw it forward into Maxell's chest. Her sharp nails find what she's looking for, and she wraps her hand around it. Slowly Vixen brings the dark, swirling mass of a soul out from his chest.

And all the while, Maxell looks at her bloody hand and screams in deep pain. "What are you doing?" He chokes on his blood and crumbles into a heap on the floor. He hears his heart pounding hard trying desperately to compensate for the blood loss. He eyes grow dimmer, until everything fades to black yet he hears the last thing Vixen says to him.

_**Thank you, Maxell. You just made my life a little bit easier. And for this I will cherish your soul for all of eternity.**_ With this Vixen swallows the soul, licks her finger satisfied of the power she now has and she shimmers out towards her destination… the demonic wasteland.

Julie feels something she hasn't felt in a long time, hopeless. She had hoped he would be her key to dwarfing Vixen's plans. But now her excellence knew of her betrayal and her hope lay in a pool of his own blood slowly leaving this world behind. Something she envied something she could never have, the ability to move on.

"Julie, I'm sorr-" And Maxell was no more but a pile of dust.

If Julie could, she would have cried instead she pondered on what's to come.

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><p><strong>Demonic Wasteland<strong>

She is beyond thrilled at the power she took, since it brought her so much closer to her ultimate goal. That's why she is here in this desolate and dry place void of all life. She can see on the horizon tormented souls calling to her for reprieve. But she isn't interested; instead something else pulled her forward towards those dark caves to the west of her. She takes a deep breath and only one soul inhabits the place, as if it is too scared to roam around freely. It sought for something it could never have… peace. Vixen enters the caves, and the dark soul brightens showing its true cowardly colors as it tries to flee through the spaces in the rocks.

As Vixen walks forward the soul grows smaller and smaller scared out of its mind. Before, in the soul's past life it would have jumped for joy to serve someone of Vixen's caliber. But it had taken not one, but three things from the deadly soul collector. And it knew it would have to pay.

A whisper brushed against Vixen's ears…** please** the soul seemed to say.

_**After what you have done to everything I held dear, of course you wouldn't ever have peace. In fact I will make it my personal goal Seer to make sure you suffer forever. **_Vixen hollered_**, never again will you tamper with my plans. **_

The soul's light dimmed from a black to a grey in defeat. Vixen holds the grey mass in her hands eats half and saves the rest for the body that will become the Seer.


	5. Understanding Souls

**Chapter 5- Understanding Souls**

A/N: We will see a lot from Julie, because she is one of the main pawns.

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><p><strong>Julie's POV<strong>

Julie sat on the edge of her bed barely making a dent in it. If she was completely alive should be freezing in the room, she called home. She had no home, instead her excellence instructed her to stay in the two bedroom apartment above the underworld amongst humans. Why… to keep an eye on things. _Humans are blind little creatures and dumb ones at that. See humans understand the concept of souls and spirits, they get if a spirit cannot move on it becomes a ghost. Or should I say an other?_ Julie drifts from the cold room to stand right behind the African American guy, Kenny around the age of 24 passing bottle of beers to his friends. She stares at their source of entertainment, the NFL game (Colts vs Patriots) in sheer boredom. _Humans cannot see what's right in front of their faces, even if it tried to kill them. They feel a breeze and think it's a figment of their imagination. A ghost/other could whisper a warning and they would think they are going crazy. She used to be beautiful and now staring at Kenny's mirror she finds herself hideous_.

Enough! A ghostly wail echoes throughout the apartment. At this some of the residents turn around in fear.

"Dude! I think you got a ghost in here." A puny 19 year old stuttered out.

"Sean, don't worry about. It's just a figment of your imagination." The Caucasian boy turns around to the game hoping Kenny is right. The other four adolescents snicker at Sean's reaction calling him a wimp.

_But what they don't know is how right Sean is. She had to do it: scream her frustration out. Can you imagine not being seen or heard? That your only purpose in life is to serve against your will?_ Julie wanders back into the room, she shared with Kenny. You must be wondering what I am doing here, right?

_But before I tell you that I have to tell you this._ Julie gets comfortable as best she can after all she is just a spirit. _I bet you are wondering how I can be a spirit and have a soul at the same time, right? _Simple: there are theories floating around of a heaven and hell. Even theories of no heaven or hell; this is what we demons like to call the wastelands. These places (heaven and hell) are completely real those areas are for the souls who have moved on. Say there's a one month old baby girl who died of SIDS, _where do you think she will go? Not to hell for sure and not to the wasteland. She automatically goes to heaven, since she is the purest of the innocents._

Julie sighs, "There's so much to explain and so little time." There are four paths an innocent's soul might take, and this is going from the best to the worst. Heaven, angel's wasteland, demon's wasteland and lastly Hell: obviously heaven is a place for the purest of souls ones who have repented from their past transgressions or never committed a sin (like the baby). Angel's wasteland are for pure innocents that cannot move on, because they feel like their life was cut short. _Honestly, whoever named it a wasteland is dumb from what I heard one could call it paradise._ For instance, a veteran who died in battle before he/she got to see their family grow old would feel resentment and wouldn't allow for the natural process of moving on to take place. Demon's wasteland are for fools like me who committed so much crimes, yet their life was cut short like me and their goal wasn't fulfilled like me. If a sinful person doesn't atone for their sins, he/she moves on towards hell; hell the worst place you can ever imagine. Tortured souls reside there never to come out unless someone summons them. But even then the summoner could die trying to bring a soul from that damnation.

"Now this lesson has nothing to do with heaven or hell, I just wanted you to know the difference between the four." Julie says to her unknown audience, "Instead the main focus is on both the wastelands."

What do these two have in common? Both innocents and sinners (a.k.a creatures of night) cannot move on. In simpler terms, souls that reside in both places are ripe for the picking. Souls cannot do anything towards a soul collector like Vixen. These swirling black to white masses can only try and hide, emphasize on the try. _Humans understand a bit of the supernatural realm but sometimes they should just stink to what they know, or even what is in front of them. _We have established that unmovable souls are sitting ducks, pawns for other creatures to use. Souls become ghosts or spirits through the means of their master or mistresses, those who hold the cards. Becoming a spirit isn't easy; in fact the mistress (Vixen) in my case ate half my soul so she could do a ritual to let the other half become my body. Almost like a soul within its own soul casing like a cell-phone casing does.

Once this procedure is done, the reformed spirit of a soul is able to walk through the wasteland into the earthly realm. Eating half the soul allows the master/mistresses to readily control the souls they have obtained. They know where their pawns are, who they are talking with, their thoughts and onwards. So as I am talking to you right now, my excellence knows of it and believes you are no threat.

A tear drops from Julie's left eye, and sniffles for what she lost. _Maxell was one of the unlucky ones… Her excellence's cruelty is well known and I was a fool again for thinking I could best her. _ Soul collectors have two options: eat half the soul and control it like a chess piece (like me) or just eat the whole soul. Eating the whole soul allows a person like Vixen to permanently obtain a power of their choosing from the soul; however the soul is forever lost. It goes nowhere: not to hell, heaven, or the wastelands. It becomes nothing.

So you might be thinking that I'm done, right? Not… Vixen took Maxell's power for what I don't know since I am just a pawn. However many of you may have the opinion that the power she took was useless, since she could already shimmer. Shimmering is a power most demons can do: we shimmer to places we know of like the restaurant that serves the best food. Never has a demon besides the Source shimmered to a place they knew nothing about (how it looks, etc).

Maxell's power worked like this: he thought of something like a city maybe Houston? And he was there like that, or Nilax's market (a place for the latest reagents like eye of newt, tongue of dog) in another plane. Vixen now has the ability to teleport anywhere, anytime in history. She could tamper with the past, or the future. _I refuse to get on her bad side; don't you see that I have no choice? That fighting could get me killed or worse? I wish so much nowadays that Cole was alive, and Phoebe's son too._ All this shit that I am going through is not worth it, **why can't I move on? **

_All I want is peace: anywhere away from here_. Julie looks at you (the audience), "Why can't I move on?"

And you (audience) reply, "Because you are an other, and _**because you are a pawn**_."


	6. To Conspire

**Chapter 6- To Conspire**

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><p><strong>AN: About two months has passed by and plans have started to move in motion. Also I will introducing new characters but my main focus will be on the original characters.  
><strong>

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><p><strong>Kenny's Apartment <strong>

Vixen took a good look at herself in Kenny's bathroom mirror, her dark brown hair barely touched her shoulders, her icy green eyes spoke volumes of injustice and she could care less. Her lips were still soaked red with the blood of an "innocent demon", yet she relished the feeling of being powerful and beautiful for a small woman of 5 feet 3 inches. She didn't look her age of three hundred and twenty, instead in human years she could pass for a petite sixty nine year old and she loved it. She shook her mind off her age and physical characteristics to glare at the mirror in pain, her left palm rose to meet her reflection's own hand and she swore she saw Cole behind her grinning up at her like the four year old kid he was. A tear dropped from her eye and Cole disappeared like the illusion he truly is. And at that moment of bottomless despair Vixen knew that she had to accelerate her plans and it might cause a kink in her masterpiece, but it would be worth it to see her Cole in her arms once more.

Vixen knew that Julie was becoming more suspicious and that would not bode well at all. _What Julie doesn't seem to understand is that although her body, mind, and soul belongs to me she still has a small capacity of free will._ _That was the only reason she was able to keep her so called lover, Maxell close to her for so long without catching my attention_. Vixen wiped the tear, squared her shoulders and walked out of the bathroom towards Kenny's bedroom to face one of the bitches that snagged her plans. "Julie here!"

Julie quickly jumped from the bed to face Vixen, "You called… mistress."

"I would like for you to run an errand for me." Vixen commanded knowing very well that Julie would follow her directions to the letter. "I want you to get these ingredients from Nilax market: a witch's blade made of pure silver, holy water, and olive oil."

"What are you cooking, an angel?" Julie screeched, "If I so much has look at holy water let alone touch it I might burst into flames." _What does she want from me? _

"Now, why would I tell you what I'm planning…Julie? And you're right about the holy water… you will burst into flames. But you can't die my precious soul, so a little fire won't harm you." Vixen smiled cruelly at Julie. _I want you to suffer in every way that is possible._ "By the way you have exactly an hour to give me all the stuff I just named; otherwise I don't know what I will be forced to do to you…"

Julie gulps in fear and she shimmers off to Nilax market.

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><p><strong>Nilax's Market <strong>

"You look lost little demon." The shriveled up good witch stated at the blonde.

"My name is, Julie. She hissed out.

"Well… Julie you look lost this section is for the good creatures: _leprechaun__s, _dwarfs and the like to buy their ingredients in peace"

"I know this witch! Now if you excuse me I need these three ingredients." She feared saying them out loud for dread of retaliation from her dark brethren; in fact she had already started receiving dirty looks for being on the wrong side of the market. Nilax market was a neutral playing ground for all creatures that ever existed: good witches could come here and look for regents that they might not get elsewhere while dark creatures sought solace with other conspirators. Yet neither sides of the playing field ever dared to cross the forbidden line that boundary along the giant waterfall that separated evil from good. And yet her she was talking to a good witch getting ingredients meant only to kill a dark creature like her. She knew somewhere her mistress was… Vixen enjoyed her obvious discomfort.

Julie screamed quietly only for the witch to hear, "Hurry it up!"

"I'm sorry… demon." The witch grunted through clenched teeth. Even in the realm they were in customers were always even if they often killed your kind for the fun of it. "It takes time to soak the blade with the holy water."

"What are you talking about? I need those ingredients separate."

"Ahhh… I naturally assumed you needed to already prepared since you can't hold holy water without catching on fire."

"It's okay." She quickly paid for the regents and Julie carefully wrapped the bottle of holy water with a cloth, took the bottle of olive oil in her other hand and hung the knife in her belt making sure it couldn't accidently stab her. Before a group of rowdy men could ask what she was conspiring for or against she shimmed out of the market with three minutes to spare.

* * *

><p><strong>Back to Apartment <strong>

"Mistress, I'm here!" Julie shouted, she carefully placed the ingredients on the table in front of the glaring woman. "Is there anything else I can do?"

"Begone!" And with that command Julie is jarred from reality back into the confines of her prison far away from earth. _Finally I have a moment to myself or more like a couple of months._ Vixen swirls around the apartment in glee, and looks at the bag of goodies in front of her. She carefully unwraps the knife from the clothing to rewrap the scarf looking cloth around the blade of the knife. She gets a brown bowl from the kitchen places it in the middle of the dining room table, pours about 2 ½ cups of holy water into the bowl and a dash of olive oil. Vixen grasps the handle of the knife to soak it in the bowl for a few seconds ripping the soaked cloth away from the blade and before she could change her mind she stabs herself through the arm with the blade her eyes change from icy green to pure black in an instant as the blood collects in the waiting bowl below. She chants quietly and then louder:

**By this knife I soak all impurities away,**

**Let the dark power rise and the light fade**

**The ones that were lost let them be found **

**Give them the strength to come me**

**I bind this oil to them and back **

**My blood calls them home **

**So Mote It Be **

The house lights flicker in and out until the lighting explodes in symphony. Smoke bellowed from the bowl and the mass of liquid begins to swirl by itself until it settled down. Vixen withdrew the blade from her arm without any complain of pain; she looks at the liquid disappointed.

"It looks like it didn't work…" Vixen cocks her head to left and thinks about her predicament. _Damn it all! All this planning for nothing! It was suppose to work… this is the strongest spell the Grimore has, something… something must have gone awry._ Vixen spins on heels and head upstairs towards the other dimensional attic where her treasure lies in a shoebox covered in magic spells. The Grimore opened for her eager to satisfy her every whim, and she opened the page to a particular one where she began to speak to it like she would a person.

"You said it would work!"

_**Patience my dear… **_The voice hissed out.

"Patience? I have been at this idea of yours for months now; I have collected souls for what? NOTHING! You said this spell would bring Cole back and here I am telling you it didn't work."

_**The Grimore has never failed. **_

"Well it did now."

A dark mists rises from the book in anger, _**perhaps we should take our leave?**_

"No! No! I need you, Cole needs you."

The beings settle back to their place on the page: _**Good… tell me, what color was the mixture when you left? **_

"An unusual red color… not blood but something out of a juice box. Why?"

_**You wanted a portal to bring your son to you; instead the spell didn't allow it because one of the terms you chanted could not be met. You said them rather than just he, now the spell can't be undone… because of your foolishness. **_

"What would you have me to do?"

_**It's simple… find the host that once called to your son and give her the power of darkness. Let the light fade away and let them come home to be with us once again.**_

Vixen grinned at the page as the idea was shared telepathically with her dark knight. She tucked the book back into her hiding place under the attic's floorboards to walk back downstairs and look at the kool-aid mixture with delight. _If my portal couldn't work, than I know for a fact someone wouldn't dare pass up refreshing kool-aid especially on any hot day_.


	7. Keep Me Sane

**Chapter 7- Keep Me Sane **

* * *

><p>"Phoebe!" <strong>Piper yells outside of Phoebe's white locked door<strong>. "Come on Phoebe you have to eat something, please… for me?" Piper whispers softly.

"GO AWAY! How many times do have to tell you that I don't want anything from any of you especially from that murderer."

Piper sniffles, "Well… Paige didn't make this. I did… I know I can't tell you to forgive and forget, but can you at least come downstairs a bit. Everyone is so worried including Paige. We are all your sisters and we care for you, I just wanted to let you know that**." No one responds back and Piper takes this like a sign and puts the bacon and cheese omelet on the floor in front of the white locked door. Piper slowly walks away with her head down angered that there is nothing even after 2 months she could do. **

**A door softly opens and the occupant brings the food in so quickly that someone might guess the food was never there to begin with. Another person at the end of the hall sees the movement and at this she smiles. **

* * *

><p><strong>Inside Phoebe's Room <strong>

**We find Phoebe screaming, hollering into her pillow and she pounds the bed in fury. **

_The audacity my sisters have…. Do they think they can bribe me with food! Yes, Piper's food is great as always, but even now it kind of tastes like cardboard. I only eat because I have to, not because I want to. _**Phoebe gasps for needed air as she sobs in silence.** _I lost my whole world and they want me to move on like it never happened, they want me to play the happy sister? Who in their right mind will say thank you everyone for killing my family, because they will become a great danger to everyone else? And if you do say thank you, then you never loved them. Cole… Cole… how dare you leave me with these murderers? Yes I know that they are family, but I love you and I want you back so much it hurts to breathe let alone eat. I have been so sick, I think my sisters think I might slip away and die on this bed. But then I would be free to leave this cold and dark world. It's funny how I think you're my angel, when you were physically the polar opposite of that._

**Phoebe sits up in her bed of red and brown sheets crumpled together to stare into nothingness. Tears of a million fall down her cheeks, and she doesn't for the umpteenth time bother to wipe them away. She lays back down trying to sleep only to jolt towards the restroom as hot liquid rushes from her mouth. She wipes her lips with the back of her hand terrified of the sickness that has been going for a couple months now. Phoebe gets up from her kneeling position on the floor to stare at the mirror determined to find out what is going on. She opens her door and heads towards the outside world for the first time in months to hear two voices speaking downstairs. **

* * *

><p><strong>Kitchen <strong>

"Did she eat her food?" Paige questions.

"Yea, I think. She carried the plate of food inside her room. Have you noticed that she's been really sick?" Piper says.

"Well… for the past two months I would say she's been sick in the head."

"Paige! How dare you say that? How would you feel if your whole world crumbles in front of you in one day?"

"Well… I am not Phoebe I wouldn't be wallowing in my own filth day in and day out. Who knows when she last took a bath? She's probably sick because she's making herself sick. You and I both know that she needs to move on, otherwise she will forever be stuck in the past."

"Paige, how many times do I need to tell you to be considerate? You don't understand… have you ever been in love? If you have you wouldn't be saying it so careless."

"Look… Piper do whatever you want, whenever you realize what she is doing to herself is wrong then you can holler at me. Until then I don't think we should talk anymore." Paige glares at her and briskly heads towards one of her sanctuaries.

**Piper gazes at her in astonishment and turns around the corner of the kitchen to face Phoebe on the bottom of the stairs**. "AH! Phoebe you scared me… how long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough…"

_Usually when someone says that the person heard something that he/she wasn't suppose to hear._ "How much did you hear?" Piper questioned.

"All of it."

"Oh… Paige didn't really mean anything she said, you know that right?"

"Piper, you of all people know that lying gets you nowhere. Its okay to admit that she's isn't being forgiving at the moment. I guess in her shoes I might say the same things, however it still hard to know that your own flesh and blood thinks that about you. Don't you think?"

"So… it looks like you're heading off to somewhere, right?"

**Phoebe cocks her head**, "Yea, you're right. I haven't been feeling well, so I'm heading off to the clinic to see what's up. But I'm pretty sure I have nasty bug flu, or Paige might be right I might just be making myself sick is all."

_Snap I thought that worked_. "We love you, Phoebe. You know that."

"I will try to remember that." **Phoebe says putting another set of sweater on cause it's starting to get a bit colder now weather-wise.** "I will see you later Piper." **And with that she heads out the door for the first time in months. **

Piper thinks to herself staring after Phoebe, _Paige will you ever learn that Phoebe just needs more time or she might fall off the cliff. _

* * *

><p><strong>At the Clinic <strong>

**One of the nurse assistants comes into room four to address Phoebe, "The Doctor will see you soon." And Phoebe nods in response to that. **

The doctor walks in, "Good Afternoon Ms. Halliwell: how have you been?"

"Not well… at all. I've been so sick to my stomach half the time I know I don't eat like I should but it's so hard to keep it down sometimes. And my sisters think that I'm just mentally making myself sick because my husband died recently, and I can't seem to move on from that event. Or I might have the stomach flu or something of that nature. And I've been so stressed out I want to cry, but crying makes me a bit depressed. I just don't know what to do anymore…"

"Wow… Ms. Halliwell what you just said is quite a mouthful. But great news, you don't have the stomach virus and you're not mentally making yourself sick. In fact, you're making great progress for someone in their first trimester of pregnancy. Congratulations Ms. Halliwell! Based on the ultrasound I can conclude that you're about 2 ½ months pregnant."

**Phoebe's eyes bulges out slightly, her mouth hangs open and for second she forgets to breathe. She stutters trying to find the right thing to say,** "Doctor… Are you sure?"

"I'm pretty sure, but it looks like you still don't believe me. If you face the screen you can see the fetus moving about: here's the eye, the feet and arms are starting to grow. And do you hear that, Ms. Halliwell? Sounds like the fetus as a very strong heartbeat."

**At the remark Phoebe starts crying for what she thought she lost.** "Oh my…. I thought… I thought."

"You thought what?" The young female doctor of 29 waits for Phoebe to continue her thought.

"Nothing… Is it okay if you don't tell anyone about this?"

"Of course, Ms. Halliwell if I did I could potentially lose my license and we both don't want that. Do we?"

**Somehow a slight smile creeps up on her**, "Of course not."

"Now Ms. Halliwell, I will suggest for you to avoid caffeine, alcohol, and chocolate since these things effect the growth of the fetus. Fish too. Remember to keep up with your appointments so that we can effectively monitor the fetus as it grows. Do you have any questions?"

"No, I don't."

"Okay, just head straight down and turn left towards the lobby if that is all."

**At this Phoebe jumps down the examination table and heads towards the lobby. **

* * *

><p><strong>Back Home<strong>

**The double oak doors slam shut, and Phoebe enters the house to meet Piper and Paige eating lunch in the kitchen. **

"So what did the Doctor say?" Piper asks as Phoebe stands before her.

"She said that I need to stop stressing out and start eating better because by not doing I am making myself sick. She also suggested that I should find a good support group to talk to.

**Paige looks at Phoebe for a second and scoffs because her theory was proven right.** "What did I tell everyone?"

Both Piper and Phoebe roll their eyes at her remark.

"I'm kind of tired; I'm going to head to bed. Okay?"

"Sure, thing Phoebe takes as long as you need." Piper says.

* * *

><p><strong>In Phoebe's Room <strong>

_I can't believe I just lied to them about something this big. But I have to, I don't know why but I feel like if I don't keep this a secret than I might lose my baby again._ **Phoebe walks towards her vanity and sits down on the chair in front of it, where she begins to slowly brush her hair. **_And I will go crazy if something happened to my baby. I hope you're a boy, because Cole always wanted one to name Benjamin. _

**Phoebe stops brushing her brown wavy hair to speak softly into the mirror touching her abdomen.** "I will protect you Benjamin, because you help keep me sane."


End file.
